One proposed configuration of a high resolution detection device consisting of a microscopic observation device (e.g., optical microscope) using this type of lighting method and a computer includes: a light source configured to radiate laser light; a projection optical system comprised of, for example, a lens, a beam splitter, a plurality of reflector mirrors, a piezoelectric element and a prism and configured to divide the light flux from the light source and make interference of two reflected light fluxes on a sample surface and thereby irradiate the sample surface with a standing wave; an observation optical system configured to cause the light flux from the sample surface to be transmitted through a lens such as objective lens and received by a light-receiving element such as CCD; and a computer configured to input and analyze the light receiving quantity measured by the light-receiving element while shifting the standing wave illumination in nanometer order a plurality of times by actuation of one reflector mirror by the piezoelectric element, so as to perform super-resolution (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
This high resolution detection device employs the following algorithm as a super-resolution process by the computer: providing n×m simultaneous equations obtained by shifting standing wave illumination m times with respect to n light receiving quantities of, for example, CCDs, as fundamental equations for super-resolution and solving these equations with an intensity Ij of illumination light (illumination light quantity) and a diffraction contribution ratio D (|i−j|) at a position Aj (j=1 to n) on a sample surface so as to determine a scattering efficiency αj. This device allows for resolution exceeding the Rayleigh limit by post-process of a light scattering change in nanometer order by the computer.